The First American Screw Driven Warship...

[5fish]

Yes, the USS Princeton(1843) was the first American screw driven warship but second to the HMS Rattler (1843) even thou the USS Princeton enter duty first...

Snip... Rattler kind of a cool name...

HMS Rattler was a 9-gun wooden sloop of the Royal Navy and the first British warship to adopt a screw propeller powered by a steam engine. She was arguably the first such warship in the world—the sloop USS Princeton was launched after Rattler, but was placed in commission much sooner.

Snip... notice the name of Ericsson(civil war)

Princeton was the first ship with first screw propellers powered by an engine mounted entirely below the waterline to protect them from gunfire.[5] Her two vibrating lever engines, designed by Ericsson, were built by Merrick & Towne[a]. They burned hard coal and drove a 14 ft (4.3 m) six-bladed screw. Ericsson also designed the ship's collapsible funnel, an improved range-finder, and recoil systems for the main guns.

Snip... smeared reputation...

On February 28, 1844, during a Potomac River pleasure cruise for dignitaries, one gun exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer, and four other high-ranking federal officials. President John Tyler, who was aboard but below decks, was not injured. The ship's reputation in the Navy never recovered.

Snip... Captain.... gave us California...

Robert Field Stockton (August 20, 1795 – October 7, 1866) was a United States Navy commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican–American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam-powered navy. Stockton was from a notable political family and also served as a U.S. Senator from New Jersey.

This ship became USS Princeton, the Navy's first screw-propelled steamer. The ship was designed by John Ericsson. Stockton commanded her when she was completed in 1843. The ship was armed with two long 225 pound wrought iron guns, called the "Peacemaker" and the "Oregon". Although he was the deviser of the defective gun, Captain Stockton's political influence allowed him to be absolved of all responsibility for the February 1844 explosion of the gun, the Peacemaker, on board the ship. The explosion killed two cabinet secretaries and several others.[6]

Cleared by the court of any wrongdoing in the explosion incident, Stockton was sent by President James K. Polk to Texas. Stockton carried with him Polk's offer to annex Texas, sailing on the Princeton and arriving in Galveston. Stockton's observations while in Texas made him aware of the looming war with Mexico, a fact he communicated directly to Polk once he arrived back in Washington.[7] No vessel during the Mexican war was more useful than the Princeton in the Gulf of Mexico.[8][9] The records of the Navy Department showed she performed more service than all the rest of the Gulf squadron put together.[citation needed]

Links...
HMS Rattler (1843) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Rattler_(1843)

USS Princeton (1843) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_(1843)

Robert F. Stockton - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Stockton

 

[5fish]

The first Ship -of -the -line built with steam engines and screw drive was the French Battleship...

The screw propeller was first used on a military vessel in 1852 by the French with the introduction of the Napoleon a 90-gun ship-of-the-line as part of the French Navy - becoming the very first screw-driven steam battleship in the world.

The Napoléon class was a late type of 90-gun ships of the line of the French Navy, and the first type of ship of the line designed from the start to incorporate a steam engine.

Before the adoption of screw propulsion in warships during the 1850s, the technology of choice was steam used to drive a paddle wheel attached to the side of the warship. This arrangement formulated several distinct disadvantages. Firstly, the size of the wheel reduced the number of guns that could be mounted for a broadside along that particular side of the ship. Secondly, enemy cannon shot could easily render the wheel out of commission making it a vulnerable target in any attack. New technology was needed to place the driving force of a military warship out of harm's way. It was the invention of screw propulsion that finally made steam-powered warships practical. Cannon fire would not be obstructed and the underwater propeller would be well-protected from both shot and shell. The screw propeller was a radical leap forward and started one of the major arms races in naval history.

LINK: French ship Napoléon (1850) - Wikipedia

LINK: https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=Napoleon-I

 

[5fish]

The first steam-driven warship... with a centered paddlewheel

From wiki... link:
United States floating battery Demologos - Wikipedia

Demologos was the first warship to be propelled by a steam engine. She was a wooden floating battery built to defend New York Harbor from the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. The vessel was designed to a unique pattern by Robert Fulton, and was renamed Fulton after his death. Because of the prompt end of the war, Demologos never saw action, and no other ship like her was built.

On 9 March 1814, Congress authorized the construction of a steam warship to be designed by Robert Fulton, a pioneer of commercial steamers in North America. The construction of the ship began on 20 June 1814, at the civilian yard of Adam and Noah Brown, and the ship was launched on 29 October. After sea trials she was delivered to the United States Navy in June 1816. The ship was never formally named; Fulton christened it Demologos or Demologus, though following his death in February 1815, the ship was named Fulton.

By the time she was completed, the war for which Demologos had been built had ended. She saw only one day of active service, when she carried President James Monroe on a tour of New York Harbor. A two-masted lateen rig was added by the orders of her first commander, Captain David Porter. In 1821 her armament and machinery were removed. The remainder of her career was spent laid up in reserve; after 1825 she served as the floating barracks for Brooklyn Navy Yard. She came to an end on 4 June 1829 in a gunpowder explosion. She exploded while lying at anchor, killing an officer and 47 men.[2][3]

The Demologos was ultimately a dead end in the introduction of steam power to the warship. Armed paddle steamers proliferated in the 1830s and 1840s as armed tugs and transports. During the Civil War, the United States Navy operated a number of iron clad steam-powered paddle-wheel gunboats as a part of the Mississippi River Squadron. Known as City-class ironclad gunboats as they were named after cities on the Mississippi River or its tributaries, these ships utilized a double-hulled configuration similar to Fulton's design, with the paddle wheel in the center. The wheel was protected by armored plate, allowing full broad-sides, as well as bow and stern shots. An example, USS Cairo, is on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park. Paddle-wheel propulsion, more usually side-paddle configurations, in military use continued until World War II with the training aircraft carriers USS Wolverine and USS Sable. These designs were typically limited to use in the brown-water navy or on large lakes.

Steam-powered paddle wheel propulsion would ultimately be eclipsed by the introduction of the screw propeller in the 1840s, enabling steam-powered version of the ship of the line and the frigate before steam power was properly adapted for use in a blue water navy.